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Feminist Movie Friday: Sister Act · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to Stephane.
0:07
Speaker 1: Never told your production of iHeart Radio And for this
0:20
Speaker 1: feminist movie Friday, once again, Annie is letting me, we
0:25
Speaker 1: letting my teenage self live in the wonderful memories of
0:29
Speaker 1: some of my favorite movies. So excited and much like
0:32
Speaker 1: my love for Brandy and Whitney Houston's Cinderella, these movies
0:39
Speaker 1: made my heart sore and it still does. I rewatched it.
0:42
Speaker 1: I was like, it's so bad, but it's so good. Yes,
0:44
Speaker 1: it's so bad, it's so good, so we're gonna jump
0:47
Speaker 1: into it. And today we are talking about the amazing
0:50
Speaker 1: performances by Oscar Winner Whoopi Goldberg in the smash Hits.
0:55
Speaker 1: I say both of them, sister act and sister Act
0:59
Speaker 1: two back in the habit you get it? Any? Do
1:02
Speaker 1: you get it? And we've used this pun before in
1:05
Speaker 1: one of our titles about women in their habits. There
1:09
Speaker 1: we go. I love it, um and yes, even though
1:12
Speaker 1: the second one scored like a thick nineteen percent and
1:15
Speaker 1: rotten tomatoes at this point, how dare they be Smarch
1:19
Speaker 1: such an amazing movie with iconsed like Lauren Hill and
1:22
Speaker 1: Jennifer Love Hewitt being a part of it. How dare you? Um?
1:27
Speaker 1: And as per usual, we come on the hills of
1:30
Speaker 1: the anniversary of these films, the thirties anniversary. That is,
1:35
Speaker 1: so the first one was made in nineteen two and
1:39
Speaker 1: the second one was made in nineteen ninety three. So yes,
1:42
Speaker 1: every time we do this, I don't know how we
1:43
Speaker 1: could get it done, but we do. Um. So I
1:46
Speaker 1: like to think that we are more relevant than we know.
1:50
Speaker 1: It's a nice thought. But also there is a third
1:53
Speaker 1: one in the works. Um. And this is all done
1:55
Speaker 1: with Disney. If you want to watch it, you can
1:57
Speaker 1: go watch it on Disney. Plus it began with Disney.
2:00
Speaker 1: Didn't realize that I thought was touched Nome, but they
2:02
Speaker 1: actually was a Disney film to begin with. And um, yeah,
2:05
Speaker 1: there's a third one, uh coming coming soon. I actually
2:09
Speaker 1: I think Tyler Perry has signed on to be a producer.
2:12
Speaker 1: Will Be Goldberg is very excited. Apparently Harvey Keitel was like,
2:16
Speaker 1: I wanted to be in the second one. Put me
2:18
Speaker 1: in the third one. So you finally really loved this movie.
2:20
Speaker 1: The gangster dude really loved this movie. Um. So we'll
2:24
Speaker 1: see what happens. And it is also on Broadway. It
2:27
Speaker 1: was anyways, and was made into a musical, as it
2:31
Speaker 1: should be. I feel like that's only natural. Um. But yeah,
2:34
Speaker 1: so let's get into it. Yes, let's so Sister Act
2:39
Speaker 1: was released in two and though it ran into several barriers,
2:43
Speaker 1: including going through civil writers, it was a success um as.
2:47
Speaker 1: In fact, it hit the eighth highest grossing film worldwide
2:50
Speaker 1: that year, and it sat in the number two spot
2:53
Speaker 1: for four straight weeks, behind Lethal Weapon three, Patriot Games,
2:58
Speaker 1: and Batman Earns Right, which, yes, was one of our
3:04
Speaker 1: other feminist movie Friday double features. I think that one
3:07
Speaker 1: was actually technically a triple feature. But yeah, that was
3:10
Speaker 1: a fun one because I threw in Spider Verse at
3:12
Speaker 1: the end. That's right, Annie, Annie, you always got to
3:15
Speaker 1: add the extra. Yeah, we might be talking about Spider
3:18
Speaker 1: Verse at the end of this one. Who knows. Any
3:20
Speaker 1: time I can take it. And with its thirty one
3:23
Speaker 1: million dollar budget, it grossed two d and thirty one
3:26
Speaker 1: million dollars worldwide, which was Yeah, not so bad for
3:30
Speaker 1: a comedy film that was led by a mostly women cast. Um. So, yeah,
3:36
Speaker 1: we're excited to talk about it. I did love this
3:38
Speaker 1: movie when I was a kid. I think I was
3:40
Speaker 1: a little bit young for it. I was a little young,
3:43
Speaker 1: but I did love it. Um as we said. The
3:45
Speaker 1: movie start oscar winner Whoopie Goldberg playing Dolores van Cartier,
3:50
Speaker 1: who had just one that award for her role in
3:53
Speaker 1: ghost Which have I told you my story about Ghosts? No,
3:57
Speaker 1: I've never seen it, but randomly one day the DVD
4:03
Speaker 1: just showed up outside of my door, and I haven't
4:07
Speaker 1: watched it yet, but yes, like within, like the past.
4:11
Speaker 1: It was before the pandemic, but maybe the year before
4:13
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Someone really wants to do the pottery sing
4:17
Speaker 1: with you. I think it was a ghosts obviously. Also
4:25
Speaker 1: starring in this film was day Maggie Smith playing the
4:29
Speaker 1: reverend Mother Kathy and Jimmy as the sunshine Sister Mary, Patrick,
4:34
Speaker 1: Wendy McKenna as shy Sister Mary, Robert Harvey Kitel as
4:39
Speaker 1: the gangster boyfriend vince La Rocca, and Bill Nunn as
4:43
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Eddie Southern. The original script and screenplay was completed
4:46
Speaker 1: by Paul Rudnick, but due to some disagreement with the
4:49
Speaker 1: studio and studio exacts, he backed off and other writers
4:52
Speaker 1: stepped in, including beloved Carrie Fisher and Nancy Myers of
4:58
Speaker 1: nineties drum com fame. Right, so there's a lot and
5:01
Speaker 1: apparently like they had Bett Middler as the original star,
5:05
Speaker 1: but she thought that her audience wouldn't like her as
5:08
Speaker 1: a nun and would be Goldbrook stepped in, which was
5:11
Speaker 1: kind of controversial at the time because a black woman
5:15
Speaker 1: being a lead like this for a big comedy was
5:18
Speaker 1: unheard of, especially that it kind of crossed over into
5:24
Speaker 1: worldwide fame. Also, there was a complication in that there
5:28
Speaker 1: was a debate whether or not the lieutenant should have
5:30
Speaker 1: been black or white. Uh well about race being a
5:33
Speaker 1: huge issue. Um finally settled in having Bill Nunn, who
5:37
Speaker 1: had come off of several other big films, finally being cast,
5:42
Speaker 1: and for some reason, the romance part between the two
5:45
Speaker 1: of them, even though you see little chemistry, it's really
5:47
Speaker 1: played down, so you know, who knows how that went down.
5:51
Speaker 1: But okay, so any I'm gonna just go into this
5:54
Speaker 1: because I'm gonna get really excited, you know this, because
5:57
Speaker 1: I love these movies so much. I'm just gonna go
6:00
Speaker 1: world went through for your listeners as well as Franny.
6:03
Speaker 1: So we first meet Dolores as a child at Catholic
6:07
Speaker 1: school acting out and making jokes, being admonished by the
6:10
Speaker 1: nun for her silliness, But then we jumped to present
6:13
Speaker 1: day nine. I know that's not present day. Don't start
6:17
Speaker 1: with me. We see Dolores performing with her girl group
6:20
Speaker 1: a montage of different sixties, fifties, seventies classics for gamblers
6:25
Speaker 1: barely paying attention at the Las Vegas casino. We soon
6:29
Speaker 1: find now that she's having an affair with a married gangster,
6:31
Speaker 1: Vince Larocca, who she's not happy with, and after receiving
6:34
Speaker 1: a purple mink coat that was formerly Locca's wife, Dolores
6:38
Speaker 1: goes to confront him and break up with him, but
6:40
Speaker 1: as she walks in, she witnesses him and his boys
6:43
Speaker 1: are murdering his driver for snitching. Oh no, so she
6:47
Speaker 1: quickly leaves, but it's being chased by her boyfriend and
6:49
Speaker 1: his men, and she rushes the police station to report
6:52
Speaker 1: what has happened, which brings us to this hilarious hygiens
6:56
Speaker 1: of our time with the nuns, which yea, this is
6:57
Speaker 1: very very dark, by the way, very very dark beginning.
6:59
Speaker 1: You're like, oh god, one immediately gets murdered, okay, And
7:04
Speaker 1: I saw this at twelve, like I love this movie, wowny.
7:07
Speaker 1: So she is soon placed in protective custody. It is
7:10
Speaker 1: hidden with nuns at the St. Catherine's Catholic Church, and
7:13
Speaker 1: due to the nature of the case, Lieutenant at the
7:15
Speaker 1: Southern is the only one who knows of the location.
7:19
Speaker 1: And to say the least, Dolores is unhappy with the arrangement,
7:23
Speaker 1: but gives in so she dons her habit and meets
7:26
Speaker 1: the other women of the convent. Here we meet Sister
7:29
Speaker 1: Mary Robert, Sister Mary Patrick, and several others, including the
7:33
Speaker 1: reverend mother, who was not thrilled because Dolores tells of
7:37
Speaker 1: all these things that she had done previously, trying to
7:39
Speaker 1: pretend like she was a nun and laws a veticos
7:42
Speaker 1: with all the sinners. But of course whatever, and now
7:46
Speaker 1: we know Dolores as Sister Mary Clarence. And at this point,
7:50
Speaker 1: while she's telling these stories and complaining about the food
7:53
Speaker 1: h the rever mothers suggests that maybe she needs to
7:56
Speaker 1: fast and stop talking all those things. Kind of cool. Uh,
8:00
Speaker 1: So the next day, Sister Clarence has woken up bright
8:04
Speaker 1: and early, I mean bright and early to attend church.
8:07
Speaker 1: There we see the sad choir of the ladies with
8:10
Speaker 1: an almost empty church, and though she tries to fit in,
8:14
Speaker 1: Sister Mary Clarence decides to go to a local biker
8:17
Speaker 1: bar because you know, she needs to get out, who
8:19
Speaker 1: was followed by a Sister Mary Patrick and Sister Mary Robert,
8:23
Speaker 1: both thinking she's going out to preach to the community,
8:26
Speaker 1: so they want to join. They all rush back home
8:28
Speaker 1: after listening to some delightful music and dancing, but are
8:31
Speaker 1: caught by the Reverend Mother once again. And the following day,
8:35
Speaker 1: the Reverend Mother puts Sister Clarence in the choir because
8:39
Speaker 1: she's like, you need something new here, you go do this.
8:41
Speaker 1: Sister Clarence quickly assesses the situation and the talents of
8:44
Speaker 1: the different women. We discover that church Mouse can sing
8:47
Speaker 1: very loudly um, that they can harmonize, and maybe sister
8:52
Speaker 1: Patrick is a little too loud, just loud okay um.
8:56
Speaker 1: And by the way, that's how she auditioned for that roles,
8:57
Speaker 1: by doing the operatic voice. And they loved it so
9:00
Speaker 1: much they don't do anything else. And so soon we
9:04
Speaker 1: come to the following church service where we see a
9:07
Speaker 1: whole different type of choir. Sister Merrick Clarence has shaken
9:10
Speaker 1: the choir up a bit and it brings in some
9:12
Speaker 1: new church attendees. Oh but the mother reverend Mother is
9:16
Speaker 1: not happy. However, the monsenior is delighted and encourages a
9:19
Speaker 1: sister Merrick Clans to continue to work with the choir
9:22
Speaker 1: and even to go out into the community to minister
9:25
Speaker 1: to the neighbors. And of course this gets h them
9:28
Speaker 1: a lot of attention, including a news report on how
9:31
Speaker 1: the nuns are out in the streets connecting with the community,
9:34
Speaker 1: which is, of course, is the no no, and Litutenant
9:36
Speaker 1: has to be like, don't do that anymore. You can't
9:37
Speaker 1: be out like that. How you? How you? Why are you? Why?
9:40
Speaker 1: Just why? And as everything seems to be going okay,
9:44
Speaker 1: we see that there is a leak in the precinct
9:46
Speaker 1: and they have discovered they being the gangsters that where
9:49
Speaker 1: Dolores is and reports it to Events, who has been
9:52
Speaker 1: on the hunt for her the entire time, with a
9:54
Speaker 1: big hit out on her. And though the Litic comes
9:57
Speaker 1: to warn Dolores because he figures it out, she tries
10:00
Speaker 1: to go back to save the nuns from Events because
10:02
Speaker 1: they're coming, and only to be caught and taken back
10:05
Speaker 1: to the casinos, where he commands his men to shoot her,
10:08
Speaker 1: but they can't because she's dressed like a nun. They're like,
10:10
Speaker 1: but she's a nun, you can't, you can't kill on
10:11
Speaker 1: there and maybe she really converted and because of that,
10:13
Speaker 1: she's able to get away. And at the same time,
10:15
Speaker 1: the nuns, actual nuns, have come to save her. And
10:18
Speaker 1: as they catch up and they try to you know,
10:20
Speaker 1: trick them, but now the gamesters find them, um and
10:23
Speaker 1: catch up with the nuns and Dolora's and Vincent his
10:26
Speaker 1: boys are debating who's going to shoot whom because again, nuns,
10:31
Speaker 1: but it's not that they get caught and arrested and
10:34
Speaker 1: everybody lives happily ever after the end. Also, the Pope
10:37
Speaker 1: shows up. I should just yeah, because they have the
10:40
Speaker 1: big show at the end. Yeah, that was I forgot
10:44
Speaker 1: the Pope again. I approbably forgot again even though I
10:47
Speaker 1: watched it again. I was like, oh, yeah, you don't
10:49
Speaker 1: see the pope, you just see the back because they've
10:51
Speaker 1: gotten so much attention. He shows up and of course
10:54
Speaker 1: they do the final performance. And yes, the nuns discover
10:57
Speaker 1: her true identity, but by us are nonetheless Yes, more
11:02
Speaker 1: on that to come. We need to talk about the
11:18
Speaker 1: amazing sequel. Very predictable and hokey, but I know it's
11:23
Speaker 1: one of your faves. I still love it so much.
11:26
Speaker 1: This is my first I had my first time seeing it.
11:29
Speaker 1: I loved it too. It's fun um sister Act two
11:32
Speaker 1: back in the habit absolutely so. And we have once
11:37
Speaker 1: again the incomparable Whoopi Goldberg, Dame Maggie Smith, Kathy and Jimmy,
11:43
Speaker 1: Wendy mckinna, and a majority of the previous nuns, joined
11:46
Speaker 1: this time by the amazing talents of Lauren Hill in
11:49
Speaker 1: her breakout role as Rita Louise Watson and yes you
11:52
Speaker 1: do hear her full name. Oh I forgot to mention.
11:55
Speaker 1: Did you notice that Bobby from Supernatural was in the
11:58
Speaker 1: first one? He was one of the hops. No, a
12:02
Speaker 1: young a young Jim Beever, isn't it just so? You know?
12:06
Speaker 1: But back to the second one, bad I just needed so. Yes,
12:10
Speaker 1: we have Emmy Award winner Sherley Ralph as the mother
12:14
Speaker 1: of Florence Wilson, Rita's mother, Ryan Toby as Wesley Glenn
12:18
Speaker 1: Amal James, who, by the way, wrote Miami for Will Smith.
12:22
Speaker 1: So he's a songwriter, piece of tribute for you, And
12:24
Speaker 1: of course there's more fathers and priests than this one.
12:26
Speaker 1: I think they call him Friars in this one, which
12:29
Speaker 1: I was like, interesting, um, and we add that to
12:31
Speaker 1: the mix, and a Mr Crisp who is the antagonist
12:34
Speaker 1: played by James Coburn. Oh, and uh, of course we
12:38
Speaker 1: can't forget Junifer Love Hewitt, who was a part of
12:41
Speaker 1: this one, very slight part, but she's still there with
12:44
Speaker 1: all her makeup and glory. Yeah. I think I got
12:46
Speaker 1: to the end and I saw her name show up
12:48
Speaker 1: and I was like, I knew it, But the whole
12:50
Speaker 1: time it was kind of at the back of my brain,
12:52
Speaker 1: like I know her from somewhere where you go, there
12:56
Speaker 1: you go, there we go. So yes, let's get into it.
13:00
Speaker 1: So the second one starts and we discover that Dolores
13:03
Speaker 1: is thriving as a headlighter in a new Las Vegas
13:05
Speaker 1: show which highlights her adventures from the first Sister Act.
13:10
Speaker 1: It kind of reminds me of what happens in Chicago
13:11
Speaker 1: worth It and they have their like the whole musical
13:14
Speaker 1: number about what just happened in the movie, sort of
13:17
Speaker 1: like that. During the performance, her old friend's sister Mary
13:20
Speaker 1: Patrick and Sister Mary Robert come to not just watch
13:24
Speaker 1: the amazing performance, but to solicit her help. The sisters
13:28
Speaker 1: had been sent by the Reverend Mother to help revive
13:31
Speaker 1: the school that the teachers have started teaching at in
13:33
Speaker 1: San Francisco. And so begins the new adventure of Sister
13:37
Speaker 1: Mary Clarence. Yes, so back in the habit I said
13:41
Speaker 1: it Uh. Sister Mary Clarence arrives at St. Francis Academy,
13:45
Speaker 1: a school that has not been doing well, as in fact,
13:49
Speaker 1: the school was on the verge of being shut down,
13:51
Speaker 1: to the dismay of the sisters, but to the delight
13:54
Speaker 1: of the administrator, Mr Crisp, who was seeking in an
13:58
Speaker 1: early retirement. Um. And it's during this time Sister Clarence
14:01
Speaker 1: is assigned to the music class, which is labeled the
14:04
Speaker 1: Bird Class as did its quote fly right through it
14:08
Speaker 1: um and the rambugtas crew does not disappoint with a
14:12
Speaker 1: wonderful rendition of Yo Mama jokes and introduction to the class,
14:16
Speaker 1: including the wonderful Rita Louise Watson right um. And Sister
14:21
Speaker 1: Mary Clarence's relationship with the class does have a rough start,
14:26
Speaker 1: um yeah, but she soon gets them together by laying
14:30
Speaker 1: down the wall. And though some protest a k some Rita,
14:34
Speaker 1: mostly the class comes together and we soon discovered the
14:38
Speaker 1: classes full of talented singers and rappers and piano players
14:43
Speaker 1: um some of them. Yeah. And here the sister decides.
14:48
Speaker 1: Sister Mary Clarence decides, well, we can make a choir.
14:52
Speaker 1: We can make this acquire um and that she does
14:55
Speaker 1: with the first performance, Oh Happy Day, with an amazing
14:58
Speaker 1: solo from Wesley Slash them all, um. Assume we discovered
15:02
Speaker 1: that school was once a reputable school that one singing
15:06
Speaker 1: competitions like every year, and of course that means this
15:10
Speaker 1: new choir would be joining this year, competing and might
15:14
Speaker 1: even help save the school. A very popular trope in
15:18
Speaker 1: the night and it's here we see the return of
15:24
Speaker 1: Rita after Sister Mary Roberts has discovered her talent for singing. Uh,
15:28
Speaker 1: it was a beautiful, beautiful song by the way. Sister
15:32
Speaker 1: Clarence talks Rita to come back and join the competition,
15:35
Speaker 1: but Rita has to hide her lover singing from her mother,
15:39
Speaker 1: as the mother disapproves of the dreams of being a
15:41
Speaker 1: singer because her father kind of wasted away and never
15:44
Speaker 1: fulfilling that dream, so she's like, get it together, essentially
15:47
Speaker 1: really stern, but the secret doesn't stay a secret um
15:51
Speaker 1: after her mother discovers that she's a part of the
15:53
Speaker 1: choir Florence. The mother makes Rita quit to focus on
15:57
Speaker 1: her studies, and even a visit from Sister Clarence and
15:59
Speaker 1: does nothing to change our mind. But Rita's friend reminds
16:03
Speaker 1: her of the importance of the competition and being one
16:05
Speaker 1: of the group, and after being kind of sneaky sneaky,
16:08
Speaker 1: she joins. After they do a huge fundraiser for this
16:12
Speaker 1: trip because they all have to raise the money, and
16:14
Speaker 1: we have a great sequence of what'll be called are
16:17
Speaker 1: pretending to be James Brown Wonderful and they all go
16:20
Speaker 1: to the competition together Yes yes, chess, including Rita Yeah um.
16:25
Speaker 1: And at the competition we see the many stumbling blocks
16:28
Speaker 1: in front of the kids and the school, the disapproving mother,
16:31
Speaker 1: the discovery of Sister Married Clarence's real identity by Mr Crisp,
16:35
Speaker 1: and other groups who seems so put together, like they
16:39
Speaker 1: hear another group sing the same song they're going to sing,
16:41
Speaker 1: but of course they overcome with an updated rendition of Joyful, Joyful,
16:46
Speaker 1: led by Rita uh. They win the competition and the
16:50
Speaker 1: approval to keep the school open. Her u um Rita
16:55
Speaker 1: also gets approval from her stern mother, who's like, Wow,
16:58
Speaker 1: I didn't know you were that good. And of course
17:01
Speaker 1: we couldn't in the movie without the big reveal that
17:03
Speaker 1: sister Mary Clarence was not a sister but a headliner
17:06
Speaker 1: of a Las Vegas show and she's like, yeah, show girl,
17:12
Speaker 1: and she's like, I'll have never been a show girl.
17:14
Speaker 1: I am a headliner. You know, you gotta have that moment.
17:17
Speaker 1: Of course, we do have to mention the fact that
17:19
Speaker 1: they were all in these fancy robes, but they were
17:22
Speaker 1: so uncomfortable they wore their street clothes. I'm putting quotes here, uh,
17:25
Speaker 1: street clothes so they can could be real hip hop stars. Yeah,
17:28
Speaker 1: it's very cheesy. It's very cheesy. There's a lot of lacking.
17:31
Speaker 1: I would wish for more singing, but I still love it.
17:35
Speaker 1: I still love everything about it. I remember singing these songs,
17:38
Speaker 1: quoting these quotes like so good, so good. Yeah, I
17:44
Speaker 1: mean it's a very uplifting. It's fun story because I
17:49
Speaker 1: remember because this was the first time I've seen the
17:51
Speaker 1: second one, and I like, was all twisted up like
17:56
Speaker 1: what if they don't win, like they built it up.
17:59
Speaker 1: But it was It's nice. It was just it was
18:02
Speaker 1: next to the school, of course, and I love that
18:06
Speaker 1: when they were announcing the winner, the announcer was like
18:08
Speaker 1: so excited for them, like over the top acting. It's like,
18:12
Speaker 1: of course St. Francis suppecially biased here, what's happening, dude.
18:18
Speaker 1: I did find it interesting that you had the split
18:21
Speaker 1: between the school that usually one, the one that sang
18:24
Speaker 1: the same song, was all white and very put together,
18:28
Speaker 1: as in like they were posh, probably very rich school
18:32
Speaker 1: versus the school which was apparently the only one in
18:35
Speaker 1: that district, and the kids would have to have been
18:38
Speaker 1: pushed at two other districts and would have been separated
18:40
Speaker 1: and may not even be able to go to those
18:41
Speaker 1: schools um because of not being able to get there.
18:45
Speaker 1: So a lot of a lot of things that happened.
18:47
Speaker 1: But like, of course, it was an interesting like opposite
18:52
Speaker 1: of each other. We love, we love the underdogs, We
18:56
Speaker 1: love an underdog. The nineties were all about the underdog,
19:00
Speaker 1: and of course I think things have flipped on its
19:02
Speaker 1: head more recently where they don't oftentimes win anymore, but
19:05
Speaker 1: they get a good lesson instead, I don't like that well,
19:10
Speaker 1: as thought it was nice. It was one of those
19:12
Speaker 1: things where I was just like, oh, I also loved
19:17
Speaker 1: about the second one. There was no romance, There was
19:20
Speaker 1: no like, uh, couple coupling. It was just literally a
19:25
Speaker 1: coming of age story about dreams. Speaking of which we'll
19:30
Speaker 1: get into some of the themes. I don't know. Of course,
19:32
Speaker 1: all movies have themes. I don't know if this one
19:34
Speaker 1: has a lot of themes. This is not so much
19:37
Speaker 1: feminist as much as like really new and different in
19:41
Speaker 1: its perspective on how they did comedy and who led
19:45
Speaker 1: these comedies and why it was so significant. It's interesting
19:48
Speaker 1: to me because when this happened and Whoopie Goldberg took
19:52
Speaker 1: the role over Bette Milner, I didn't see a lot
19:56
Speaker 1: of articles where people were upset that a black actress
20:00
Speaker 1: had taken over for a white actress, which I think
20:02
Speaker 1: to have often happens today when it doesn't even make sense,
20:05
Speaker 1: even if you have no investment in these characters, people
20:09
Speaker 1: automatically have this conversation about what's woke, what's correct, what's
20:13
Speaker 1: not correct, instead of just letting it be, which was
20:16
Speaker 1: kind of that conversation we had about Brandy. There was
20:18
Speaker 1: a lot of controversy with Cinderella because the idea of Cinderella,
20:23
Speaker 1: a very fictional character, was of one race, which is
20:27
Speaker 1: that it was superior of a race, which is a
20:28
Speaker 1: whole different conversation, um, but in this role it was
20:32
Speaker 1: not that way. There was a conversation about not seeing
20:37
Speaker 1: many black women being nuns and whether or not that's
20:41
Speaker 1: a thing very my new conversation. I will say there
20:44
Speaker 1: were a couple of lawsuits here. I don't know if
20:46
Speaker 1: you know this. UM. One there was a black nun
20:51
Speaker 1: I think named de Luis or like similar to do
20:56
Speaker 1: Laura's who had written a book in the eighties seventies
21:00
Speaker 1: was similar to this, how she got together the choir,
21:03
Speaker 1: revamped city, all these things, and that she really and
21:07
Speaker 1: she tried to make it into a screenplay. No one
21:09
Speaker 1: took it, but she felt like they that Disney and
21:11
Speaker 1: the screenwriters had taken their idea which was kind of similar.
21:14
Speaker 1: So they're like, maybe she lost that lawsuit because she
21:18
Speaker 1: tried for a billion dollars and that movie did not
21:22
Speaker 1: make a billion dollars, but so that kind of went
21:25
Speaker 1: to the wayside. There was another one um with some
21:28
Speaker 1: fairly famous writers who said that they had that idea
21:33
Speaker 1: in the early eighties of a closet and nune so
21:37
Speaker 1: like a fake nun uh coming out and being a comedy.
21:41
Speaker 1: But they also lost. Even though Disney was willing to
21:45
Speaker 1: settle for a million dollars, they were trying to super
21:47
Speaker 1: multimillion dollars. They lost completely because I said there was
21:51
Speaker 1: not enough of the similarities. But a lot of the
21:53
Speaker 1: similarities were that it was a black nun So I
21:57
Speaker 1: thought that was interesting in itself, that that's such a
22:00
Speaker 1: novel idea, that it became something that was like about
22:04
Speaker 1: copyright and in frenchmen and all of that. I love
22:08
Speaker 1: that today we still talk about it as as just
22:13
Speaker 1: wholesome entertainment, even though again we talked about the gangster
22:16
Speaker 1: and then a fair thing that happened. It's like, yeah,
22:19
Speaker 1: but the fact that it happened like that she moved
22:21
Speaker 1: on to the nunnery the convent made it more wholesome perhaps,
22:26
Speaker 1: And I think the only curse word I remember hearing
22:29
Speaker 1: is hell and dawn the entire time. Yeah, I really
22:35
Speaker 1: liked about it that, which is not what I was anticipating,
22:38
Speaker 1: because again I saw this movie and everything liked when
22:39
Speaker 1: I was a kid, but I was young, so I
22:41
Speaker 1: didn't remember a lot of it. But I really liked that.
22:45
Speaker 1: You know, they're kind of like painting Dolores as you know,
22:49
Speaker 1: the antithesis of a nun, Like, oh, yea, she smokes,
22:53
Speaker 1: she drinks, she curses, she's like lived a life, as
22:58
Speaker 1: they say, but in the end, like they don't really
23:01
Speaker 1: judge her for that, and they also don't like throw
23:04
Speaker 1: her out when they realize she's not sister Mary Clarence.
23:07
Speaker 1: They're like, no, she's been somebody who's been there for
23:11
Speaker 1: us anyway, has helped does and we're gonna go and
23:13
Speaker 1: be there for her and help her. Yes. I liked
23:16
Speaker 1: that a lot because I was expecting a lot more
23:19
Speaker 1: like oh, you're a lot the ending with with the
23:23
Speaker 1: kids too, like you just leaved us. They just found
23:26
Speaker 1: that are more impressive. Even the say you don't act
23:28
Speaker 1: like a nun. I was like, wait, what, okay, right, anyway,
23:33
Speaker 1: so let's get into some of these themes. Of course,
23:35
Speaker 1: as you're mentioning about them rallying together sisterhood, I feel
23:38
Speaker 1: like the literal the sisters being sisterhood with the commodity
23:44
Speaker 1: the love they have for each other, the fondness and yeah,
23:47
Speaker 1: the encouragement to have it for each other instead of
23:49
Speaker 1: judging the automatically like oh my god, that's amazing, let's
23:52
Speaker 1: do this together, I want to help you, or this
23:54
Speaker 1: is even better, like it's it's such a beautiful thing
23:57
Speaker 1: to see um and you can't even see that, not
23:59
Speaker 1: necessarily sisterhood, but together nos and the kids that they
24:02
Speaker 1: come together and rally together and they really feel like
24:05
Speaker 1: something is important and they fight for it and it's
24:08
Speaker 1: beautiful to see that. Yeah, yeah, I really liked that too,
24:13
Speaker 1: one of my favorite parts of both of them. So
24:16
Speaker 1: I feel like Whoopi Goldberg's character was such a good teacher.
24:19
Speaker 1: She was such a good like she could pick out
24:22
Speaker 1: like oh you you could really sing this shy sister,
24:26
Speaker 1: like oh you can do this, or you know, you
24:28
Speaker 1: need to be a little bit more quiet, but does
24:30
Speaker 1: it in a way that's very supportive and like not
24:33
Speaker 1: insulting UM. And then with the kids, like she's never
24:36
Speaker 1: there's never a piece of her, even though she's confident
24:39
Speaker 1: in her like I'm a headliner, there's never a piece
24:41
Speaker 1: of her that's like putting down someone else for being
24:43
Speaker 1: better than her or anything. It's much more about like
24:45
Speaker 1: building up to make the best choir, this group effort
24:51
Speaker 1: that she can make. And I really like that. Like
24:53
Speaker 1: in the second when it kind of starts where she's
24:55
Speaker 1: very successful, but it doesn't take much for them to
24:57
Speaker 1: convince her, like hey, will you come help us out
24:59
Speaker 1: with these key She's like okay. Immediately she just thinks
25:04
Speaker 1: that the reverend mother is in trouble and she's she
25:07
Speaker 1: drops everything, even the publicist, who by the way, is
25:10
Speaker 1: an actor from Designing Women, um and so he was
25:13
Speaker 1: pretty big back then. Yeah, he was like, no, no,
25:16
Speaker 1: these are my friends, No, I'll do what they ask
25:19
Speaker 1: I love that, but you know, apparently she was like
25:21
Speaker 1: that in real life as well. So the first Sister
25:24
Speaker 1: Act she had gotten the flu i had to take
25:27
Speaker 1: off a couple of days. But it was at that
25:30
Speaker 1: time she had realized that the rest of the cast,
25:33
Speaker 1: the nuns who weren't scripted, who weren't stars, who may
25:35
Speaker 1: not have speaking parts, were possibly paying for their own mills,
25:39
Speaker 1: paying for their own hotels, and she was not allowing that.
25:41
Speaker 1: So she took that time as to not necessarily protest,
25:44
Speaker 1: she said, but put things in line to make sure
25:47
Speaker 1: that they are their knees are being met, and they're
25:49
Speaker 1: being taken care of, and so apparently like she did
25:52
Speaker 1: that for the cast. Uh, Kathy and Jimmy had actually
25:55
Speaker 1: said that she was one of the most wonderful people
25:57
Speaker 1: that she had ever worked with, that she really cared
26:00
Speaker 1: heard about the rest of the people on the set
26:03
Speaker 1: uh and Catherine the Jimmy had worked with, and if
26:06
Speaker 1: I am correct, one of the either producers or directors
26:09
Speaker 1: or writers was also from hocus Pocus. So she really
26:13
Speaker 1: talked about how this was a catalyst for her career,
26:15
Speaker 1: which is hilarious because she would have met I don't
26:17
Speaker 1: know if she already knew Bette Midler, who was supposed
26:19
Speaker 1: to be on this film, so you know, you know
26:21
Speaker 1: the connections here. Um, But it's lovely to read that
26:24
Speaker 1: that's what happened, even though if you read into it,
26:27
Speaker 1: there was a lot of controversy, a lot of back
26:30
Speaker 1: and forth, and a lot of like uh not niceness
26:35
Speaker 1: that happened behind the scenes, not necessarily again with the actors,
26:38
Speaker 1: but even just the old whole process. But yeah, that
26:42
Speaker 1: she stood up for her sisters literally in making sure
26:45
Speaker 1: that they are cared for. I love that, and like
26:48
Speaker 1: you were talking about two. Something that I love to
26:50
Speaker 1: see is like they grow together, like they learned from
26:53
Speaker 1: each other as well. Wilpi Goldberg is uh, sister Clarence
26:56
Speaker 1: is teaching them how to sing and to be confident
26:59
Speaker 1: and to really together as a group. So did these kids.
27:03
Speaker 1: She brings them together even if they don't like the
27:06
Speaker 1: same thing. And I love the same part of the
27:08
Speaker 1: young woman who doesn't know Mary had a little lamb,
27:11
Speaker 1: and so she sings show tunes, which we have who
27:15
Speaker 1: loves show tunes? Loves show tunes? Yes, now I love that. Again.
27:20
Speaker 1: That's like as such a good example of her being
27:22
Speaker 1: a good teacher, because she was like, no, we're not
27:23
Speaker 1: gonna make fun of her. She doesn't know it. What
27:27
Speaker 1: do you know, Like we can, we can come from
27:29
Speaker 1: where you are and and get this worked out. So
27:32
Speaker 1: I loved that too, And I loved like her relationship
27:36
Speaker 1: with the Reverend Mother, which was very kind of you know,
27:39
Speaker 1: clashy here's the antagonist in the first one. But the
27:44
Speaker 1: reverend mother, you know, came around and was like, look,
27:47
Speaker 1: I can I can appreciate what you've done. I can
27:49
Speaker 1: see what you've done um for this group, and for
27:52
Speaker 1: this church. Uh, and then in the second one it
27:55
Speaker 1: is that they're good friends and protective of each other.
27:58
Speaker 1: So that was very sweet to see. But yeah, it
28:01
Speaker 1: was I don't know, it was very nice to see
28:04
Speaker 1: a character that was so like willing to be open.
28:08
Speaker 1: Like when she enters that class with the students, I
28:11
Speaker 1: would have like melted into a puddle and God, but
28:15
Speaker 1: she tried. Like she keeps, you know, talking about her
28:18
Speaker 1: favorite music and trying to figure out what they like
28:21
Speaker 1: and how she can get them to work together. Um,
28:25
Speaker 1: and the same with the sisters at the convents, but
28:29
Speaker 1: just kind of being an open listener and and open
28:31
Speaker 1: about how difficult things are. I remember she has that
28:34
Speaker 1: line where she says something like, you know, the one
28:37
Speaker 1: thing I hate about this room is there's nothing to
28:39
Speaker 1: throw when she's so frustrated. So it was nice to
28:43
Speaker 1: see a character like that that was so invested in
28:48
Speaker 1: other people growing together, coming together, while also being like
28:54
Speaker 1: growing herself and and getting to show off her own talent.
29:10
Speaker 1: And I have to say I forgot to add his
29:12
Speaker 1: part um sister Mary Lazarus was actually played by an
29:18
Speaker 1: iconic actress, Mary Wicks, who was in movies like White
29:21
Speaker 1: Christmas that started being Crosby as well, like one of
29:25
Speaker 1: the biggest iconic Christmas movies Problematic, but you know it's
29:29
Speaker 1: it's still there. Um. She was also in uh, one
29:33
Speaker 1: of my favorite movies, The Music Man, which I loved
29:36
Speaker 1: as well, so like she was a big part of that.
29:39
Speaker 1: But she is the original lead for the choir who
29:43
Speaker 1: steps down and instead of getting mad, which often has happened,
29:47
Speaker 1: she supports her and it was like, oh, a great job.
29:49
Speaker 1: And she's also the one that does the show tunes
29:50
Speaker 1: of the second one, as we talked about show tunes. Um,
29:53
Speaker 1: but I kind of forget that these actors are iconic
29:57
Speaker 1: in themselves and even though we may not know their names.
29:59
Speaker 1: She has been in acting since nineteen forty two, if
30:04
Speaker 1: not earlier, so she's been around for a long time.
30:06
Speaker 1: And then her face is very familiar. You should probably
30:09
Speaker 1: you'll see her and you'll be like, I've seen her
30:10
Speaker 1: in something, And yeah, I think another part of the
30:14
Speaker 1: growing together getting news believing in themselves. Of course, that's
30:19
Speaker 1: the huge part of the nineties, really, like understanding who
30:22
Speaker 1: you are, following your dreams. All of these things. The
30:25
Speaker 1: first one is believing in yourself. We have Mary Roberts,
30:29
Speaker 1: who doesn't seem loudly because she's so shy and embarrassed,
30:32
Speaker 1: you know, she helps her come out of herself. UM.
30:35
Speaker 1: She does the same for Patrick, she does the same
30:37
Speaker 1: for even a sister. Alma turns off her battery. But
30:42
Speaker 1: then she gives her, she gives her a chance to
30:43
Speaker 1: play away on that piano as she really gets into it. Yeah, yeah,
30:50
Speaker 1: and that was that was nice to see because I
30:54
Speaker 1: feel like when the first one starts, you know, the
30:57
Speaker 1: church is empty, and you hear kind of several versions
31:00
Speaker 1: of you know, I joined to help people, UM, and
31:04
Speaker 1: we're just kind of sitting here and following rules. And
31:08
Speaker 1: then yeah, Dolores comes in and it's like, no, here,
31:11
Speaker 1: well we can revitalize this choir. I know that you
31:14
Speaker 1: have this strong voice. I know that you can do this,
31:17
Speaker 1: and I know that you can do this and all
31:18
Speaker 1: this stuff. But then that does lead to them going
31:20
Speaker 1: out and like getting to know the community and and
31:23
Speaker 1: bringing other people in UM and seeing that confidence growing
31:29
Speaker 1: in the second one with the kids, because the kids
31:31
Speaker 1: were kind of like, well, this is a bird class,
31:32
Speaker 1: as you said, like this is there's no point to
31:35
Speaker 1: this UM, and she Dolores kind of kind of shows
31:39
Speaker 1: them like, oh no, there you have talents. Um, what
31:42
Speaker 1: what you choose to do with it? It's up to you.
31:45
Speaker 1: But you have talent and you should believe that you
31:47
Speaker 1: have talent. She does that with a moll especially and
31:49
Speaker 1: rita especially, like you can do this and it's beautiful
31:53
Speaker 1: and wonderful, and like this gift, it's good, it's beautiful
31:57
Speaker 1: and wonderful. To here is the audience. Yes, yes, a
32:00
Speaker 1: mall that that note that hits You're like, yes, I
32:05
Speaker 1: love the sing um And of course everything can be
32:11
Speaker 1: fixed with singing. Everything can be fixed with singing. And
32:15
Speaker 1: did you know this? I will not lie. I love musicals.
32:19
Speaker 1: And when I was explaining to a good friend of
32:22
Speaker 1: mine why I love it, I just like, man, I
32:24
Speaker 1: just wish a problem could be fixed with a song
32:27
Speaker 1: and then you just move on. Yeah, people join in
32:34
Speaker 1: and people don't judge. You know, it is nice. I've
32:38
Speaker 1: told you that musicals thanke me nervous, but musicals like
32:41
Speaker 1: this don't because I can anticipate when the singing is right,
32:44
Speaker 1: if it's surprise singing that I'm yeah, the constant over
32:47
Speaker 1: the top singing where everything is a song, which I
32:50
Speaker 1: love I love as. In fact, I went to karaoke
32:53
Speaker 1: this weekend and I did my friend and I because
32:57
Speaker 1: We Love It, did a rendition of on my own
32:59
Speaker 1: from La Miss because I Love It? Nice Man, did
33:02
Speaker 1: we kill it? Yes? Did we sound good? No? She
33:06
Speaker 1: sounded really good, screaming into the mike. Yeah. I just
33:12
Speaker 1: love all of that. And honestly, though that's one of
33:15
Speaker 1: her things for what we gold, they're gonna think it's
33:17
Speaker 1: for a lot of people. It's one of those commonalities
33:20
Speaker 1: that people really can bond over. UM is music and
33:24
Speaker 1: songs and your interests. Then she talks about that. She
33:26
Speaker 1: talks about her love for old school motown music, UM
33:31
Speaker 1: and the girl groups and how she found the dynamic
33:34
Speaker 1: UM and how that really really affects her heart. I
33:37
Speaker 1: feel the same way right now. I'm really caught up
33:40
Speaker 1: in K pop music a lot of it, trying to
33:42
Speaker 1: figure it out, and it feels very familiar, and so
33:45
Speaker 1: it's comforting to that, even though I have no idea
33:47
Speaker 1: what's happening right now. Music is very cathartic, Like you
33:52
Speaker 1: find a good song and it can just give you
33:56
Speaker 1: such emotions, UM, such feelings, and it was I mean,
34:00
Speaker 1: like you know, as hokey as it might be. At
34:06
Speaker 1: the end of the second one, all these kids are
34:08
Speaker 1: coming together, they're singing this song and it's so good
34:10
Speaker 1: and people are so into it. You're just like, yes, yeah,
34:16
Speaker 1: it's true, it's true. We all are I think all
34:20
Speaker 1: onto all of that. One of the biggest complaints about
34:25
Speaker 1: the second one, and people are like, you know, they
34:27
Speaker 1: didn't do this right, was literally that, um, there wasn't
34:30
Speaker 1: enough singing that they cut off at the wrong times.
34:32
Speaker 1: So when we have uh, you walking in to see
34:36
Speaker 1: Lauren Hill's character and her friend and singing, um, I
34:40
Speaker 1: sing because I'm happy, um together and then you only
34:45
Speaker 1: hear of snippet and you're like, no, why didn't you
34:47
Speaker 1: at least let them finish right here? That? And then
34:51
Speaker 1: that the only other song is joyful, Joyful and oh
34:54
Speaker 1: happy Day you want more. Although this is a realistic y'all.
34:58
Speaker 1: When you're trying to rehearse for a song, it takes
35:01
Speaker 1: a whole semester, especially if you're trying to do competition
35:04
Speaker 1: to get it perfect. Right. Oh yeah, absolutely, I thought
35:09
Speaker 1: they were. When they heard the other like more quote
35:11
Speaker 1: polished group play the same song, I thought they were
35:15
Speaker 1: going to switch it to was it a happy day?
35:18
Speaker 1: In the beginning, I thought they were going to switch it. Um.
35:20
Speaker 1: I like what they did. It was good, but yeah,
35:22
Speaker 1: I was also like, I love these singing parts. Um.
35:26
Speaker 1: I will say my one complaint is the dude, the
35:30
Speaker 1: white dude trying to wrap. Oh yeah, yeah, it made
35:35
Speaker 1: me change a little bit, a little bit. Yeah, yeah,
35:38
Speaker 1: for sure, for sure. No, I'm just kidding, but yeah,
35:41
Speaker 1: I love that they came together. I love that they
35:44
Speaker 1: tried to add rap. It really did feel like old
35:47
Speaker 1: people trying to figure out rap and be like this
35:50
Speaker 1: is what this is? Right it? Yeah, for sure, but
35:56
Speaker 1: you know what they tried. It's okay. I think someone's
35:59
Speaker 1: reviews the Cassio b and I was like, oh that date,
36:03
Speaker 1: that's so dated. Why that hurt my feelings? Especially like
36:11
Speaker 1: quit quit hurting my feelings about this movie. I love
36:15
Speaker 1: it so much. I watched this one, I think way
36:18
Speaker 1: more than I did the first one. Uh. It's just
36:20
Speaker 1: something to that soulfulness to it, and it just felt
36:24
Speaker 1: so beautiful. My sister I used to direct our little
36:29
Speaker 1: church choir and she would take influences from there. Maybe
36:32
Speaker 1: that's why I loved as much as I did, because
36:34
Speaker 1: she loved these movies, but she would try to do
36:36
Speaker 1: things from here. She would do that and then uh,
36:38
Speaker 1: a brother, where art thou? We had different renditions from
36:41
Speaker 1: that too. Very interesting, that's right? Were cool? Well, these
36:51
Speaker 1: were certainly fun fun for me to watch. I'm glad
36:55
Speaker 1: you got to watch the beginn welcome. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
36:59
Speaker 1: They are available for streaming listeners if you want to
37:01
Speaker 1: check them out. And yeah, in the meantime, if you
37:05
Speaker 1: have any suggestions for what movies we should talk about next,
37:08
Speaker 1: you can send them to us our emails, Stephanie and
37:11
Speaker 1: Mom stuff at iHeart media dot com. You can find
37:13
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at Mom's podcast, or on Instagram and
37:16
Speaker 1: TikTok at stuff I Never Told You. Thanks as always
37:19
Speaker 1: to our super producer, Christina. Thank you, Christina. I have
37:22
Speaker 1: a feeling she's never seen these movies. Have you ever
37:24
Speaker 1: seen these movies? Yes, Christina, we must snow. And thanks
37:29
Speaker 1: to you for listening Stuff I Never Told you. This
37:31
Speaker 1: protection of iHeartRadio. For more podcast in my Heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you can check out the radio app, a podcast wherever
37:35
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